A variety of latching mechanisms have been used within the automotive industry for releasably coupling various movable components to the vehicle body. For example, latches may often be used for releasably coupling doors (e.g., passenger doors, liftgates, hoods, deck lids, trunks, glove boxes, etc.) to vehicles. In order to keep a door of the vehicle in a closed position, a latching mechanism may be provided. Such latching mechanisms may generally be operable in a latched mode to secure the door to the vehicle body and in an unlatched mode where the door is freely movable relative to the vehicle body. Typically, the latching mechanisms may include a latch capable of engaging a striker when the door is in a closed position. The latch may typically be secured near an edge of the door, and a striker may typically be secured to the vehicle body.
Generally, only one edge of a door may be releasably coupled to the vehicle body by way of one or more hinge mechanisms, or the like. A latch may typically be mounted to the edge opposite the hinge mechanism. Also, the side edges of the door may generally not be hinged or physically connected to the vehicle body. Therefore, motion of the vehicle may result in “match-boxing” or non-parallel deflection of the vehicle body relative to the side edges of the door. This match-boxing is undesirable, in part, because it imparts additional vehicle noise, known as “chucking”, as the vehicle travels along rough or uneven surfaces.
Often many vehicles with doors, liftgates, deck lids, trunks, or the like, may have issues with distortion of the rear end of the vehicle as the vehicle runs over a rough surface. For example, this distortion may cause significant deflection of the deck lid or trunk relative to the associated deck lid or trunk opening. This deflection may be large enough for contact to be made between the deck lid or trunk and the deck lid or trunk opening or at a high enough frequency that noise emanates from the system.
Manufacturers may often employ a variety of anti-chucking hardware to reduce the chucking resulting from match-box deflection. Common anti-chucking hardware may include wedges and bumpers that may be positioned between the door edges and vehicle body such that some deflection loads from the match-boxing may be transferred to the door.
Vehicles further may include a mechanism that releases a latch remotely. This mechanism, however, often requires additional design changes to be made to the vehicle to account for the size and space required to attach it to the vehicle. Particularly, many of these mechanisms are large and require significant space on the vehicle to attach it thereto. Moreover, in order for an operator to open the part of the vehicle utilizing the release latch, room for the operator's hand may be required. Particularly, the mechanism that releases the trunk or deck lid, for example, may not open such enough for an operator to insert his or her hand. Therefore, a hand opening may be required to be added to the vehicle. Finally, these mechanisms can lead to additional “chucking” of the vehicle as referenced above.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved anti-chucking latch striker with an integral pop-up mechanism that may have a compact size and the efficiently operates to open the part of the vehicle utilizing such mechanism.